The Squire's Tale

[Sandshark]

Intermission: The Long Road

Prickles of pain woke Lucas into darkness.

A full moon cast its glow on the young man where he lay, facing his lover, his injured arm lying limply between them on the bed.

He took deep breaths, trying to push away the feeling of the dozen needles sewn into his bones. The foreign metal rebinding his inner circuits. Amo said the pain would pass soon. He prayed it did. For the last few days he'd often woken like this, feeling pins and needles as the Lax Essence began to wear thin. The price of hubris.

With his right hand he reached out, his fingertips barely reaching Moa's shoulder before he stopped himself. It would pain him more if she woke to find him suffering.

He let out a long sigh through his nose. Confronting Elysia had been the wrong choice. One he'd made because he felt stronger than he'd ever been. Yet compared to her, who had the weight of experience and her own equipment to wield against him, he was still no more than a novice. He could not protect the honor of his new family with faith alone.

Once again he had to become stronger.

Once again there was a mountain to climb.

Lucas rolled over, turning away from Moa and draping his left arm gingerly down on the bed. He peered out across the half-lit room, his eyes losing focus as his mind turned inward. Where would he turn, if it wasn't to his own faith? Finding someone to craft him a weapon could bring him a measure of power. As could new armor, and personal training and effort. But his reliance on his own strength had brought him up against a wall yet again. A barrier he could not break, even though it was Barriers he had mastered.

His goal seemed to retreat two steps for every one he took towards it.

Clack...

Rustle...

A sharp claw snaked around his neck, and with it came a small body, warm with inner fire. Still asleep, perhaps, or half-awake.

Desiring warmth.

His goal.

There was nothing more to it than this. The long road to strength was neverending, but reaching that pinnacle shouldn't make him lose sight of what he really wanted. To bring warmth to the one he loved. His promise to Amo, his solemn duty: to make sure she lived a life that made her happy.

And getting hurt would not make her happy.